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06/13/2017 12:00 AMWhen the Town of Old Saybrook and the state bought the thousand-acre Preserve, the town got a bonus: a 1.90 acre residential property at 185 Bokum Road. Since the extra parcel with the house on it was part of the original Preserve property, when ownership transferred on April 30, 2015, the town became its owner. In the negotiations, the Trust for Public Land—the seller—and the State of Connecticut—the other buyer—agreed that the town could sell the parcel when ready.
Well, the time to sell has arrived.
Earlier this week on June 12, a Town Meeting was slated to approve sale of the Bokum Road lot for $200,000 to the man who has been renting it, which means the town will get a $200,000 check at the deal’s closing.
With the state budget still unresolved, the extra revenue will provide an extra cushion for the town against further unexpected state aid cuts or payment demands.
Other Town Meeting Actions
For the second year in a row, electors were asked earlier this week to endorse two applications from local non-profit organizations to the State Department of Revenue Services for Neighborhood Assistance Act (NAA) program tax credits. The state income tax credits, if awarded, can be transferred from the non-profit to a willing corporate entity that can use the credits; in return, the corporation agrees to award the non-profit a grant in an amount equal to the tax credit to pay for energy conservation measures.
The state’s NAA Tax Credit program helps non-profit organizations pay for facility upgrades to reduce energy consumption, thereby saving on operating costs. The town does not incur any financial obligation through its endorsement of either of organizations’ applications to the state Department of Revenue Services.
The first non-profit is the Connecticut Sports Foundation against Cancer, the non-profit currently completing its new headquarters building on North Main Street. Their request for $150,000 in credits would help offset the group’s costs to install energy-efficient windows and doors in the new building.
The second non-profit is the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, known as The Kate. Last year’s successful application for credits for energy conservation yielded funds that replaced older house lighting with new energy-efficient LED bulbs and replaced the older boiler with a new natural gas boiler. Those projects also benefit the Town of Old Saybrook, the owner of the building and the responsible party for general electric and heating bills.
The new project is to, over time, replace the high-intensity stage lights with new stage lights based on LED technology. Unlike house lights, the row of high-intensity stage lights that illuminate the stage and provide lighting in different colors as needed are expensive to replace with modern technology. To replace all of the stage lights with LEDs could cost more than $500,000. With this NAA application, the non-profit hopes to fund the first phase of a multi-year stage light replacement program.
The Kate has a separate electric utility meter for the power that the stage lighting draws. If this application for $150,000 in credits is successful, the organization could fund the first year of the stage light replacement program, a plan that will reduce the non-profit’s operating costs, once completed.